1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to gun stocks, and more particularly to an ergonomic adjustable gun stock for rifles that has a polygonal forearm portion, a polygonal butt portion, a thumb receiving aperture and handgrip portion, a vertically adjustable cheek piece, a longitudinally adjustable and removable hand-stop on the underside of the butt portion, and an adjustable recoil butt pad assembly mounted on the rear end of the butt portion.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Conventional gun stocks for rifles have a forearm portion, a butt portion, a handgrip portion, a comb or cheek piece mounted on the upper portion of the butt portion, and a recoil butt plate or butt pad mounted on the rear end of the butt portion.
The conventional forearm portion is rounded on the bottom and sides and the rounded bottom extends rearward and angularly downwardly from its front end and adjoins a pistol grip type handgrip portion which extends rearwardly and downwardly from the forearm portion. The conventional butt portion extends rearwardly from the handgrip portion and has rounded rounded bottom and top surfaces that diverge angularly outward along their length. The conventional recoil butt plate or butt pad is removably secured to the rear end of the butt portion with screws.
A problem with the rounded bottom and sides of the conventional forearm portion is that the rifle will tend to roll when supported on a support surface. Because the rounded bottom of the conventional forearm portion extends rearward and angularly downwardly from its front end, should the shooter slightly move the stock forward or rearward relative to the support surface, the inclination angle of the rifle barrel will change, and place the trajectory off-target. Thus, the shooter must use muscular tension to prevent the gun from rolling and prevent forward or rearward movement relative to the support surface.
A problem with the rearwardly and angularly downward extending pistol grip type handgrip portion of the conventional gun stock is that the wrist of the shooter must be angled relative to the forearm to grip the handgrip and pull the trigger. This angled wrist position produces in weaker squeezing action when pulling the trigger, muscular fatigue in the hand, fingers and wrist, and may result in wrist injury caused by the recoil action.
A problem with the rearward diverging rounded top and bottom surfaces of the conventional butt portion is that the bottom surface cannot be suitably supported on a flat surface since any slight forward or rearward movement will change the inclination angle of the rifle barrel and place the trajectory off-target. Also, there is no means on the butt portion which can be gripped with the shooters hand that is not holding the handgrip to facilitate maneuvering the rear portion of the stock to carry out various shooting tasks and allow the shooter to assume various holding stances and shooting positions.
Another problem with the angularly inclined top surface of the conventional butt portion is that it is fixed relative to the butt plate. In order to aim the rifle, the shooter places the butt plate against his or her shoulder and rests his or her cheek on the angular top surface of the butt plate. Since top surface extends angularly upward toward the butt plate at a fixed angle, the butt portion on which shooter rests his or her cheek may not comfortably fit or accomodate the shoulder, head and neck of shooters of different size. Thus, the shooter must often use the muscles of the head, neck and shoulder to proper position their cheek on the butt portion.
A problem with the conventional recoil butt plate or butt pad is that it is removably secured to the rear end of the butt portion with screws and must be completely removed and replaced with a different size plate or pad to properly fit the arm length of a particular shooter or in situations where a shooter may put on or remove a heavy jacket.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in general by an ergonomic adjustable gun stock that has an elongate forearm portion with a longitudinal concave receiver channel in its upper surface for receiving the barrel of a gun, a butt portion extending rearwardly from the forearm portion, a vertically adjustable cheek piece, a longitudinally adjustable and removable auxilary hand gripping element on the underside of the butt portion, and an adjustable recoil butt pad assembly mounted on the rear end of the butt portion. The forearm and butt portions are generally rectangular polygonal configurations having a subtantially flat bottom surface and substantially flat opposed sides. The butt portion has a rounded top surface substantially parallel with its flat bottom surface. A thumb receiving aperture extends transversely through the butt portion near its forward end and defines a contiguous generally vertical handgrip portion adjoined to the forearm portion and a horizontal lower portion which also has a substantially flat bottom surface. The cheek piece is an inverted generally Ushaped member having a rounded top surface and contiguous laterally spaced parallel sides. The butt portion has a cheek piece receiving recess sized and shaped to slidably receive the cheek piece in a lowermost position, such that the outer periphery of the cheek piece is generally flush with the outer periphery of the butt portion in its lowermost position.